DVD Review: 10,000 BC

In all honesty, I approached 10,000 BC with a healthy dose of skepticism. I wanted the film to be good, but I had my doubts even before I turned on my DVD player. The film was directed by Roland Emmerich, the fellow who brought us the memorable Independence Day (1996), but then proceeded to helm one of the worst film adaptations in recent memory, Godzilla in 1998.

Emmerich is nothing if not consistent. The man always thinks big. Most of his previous films, including Independence Day, Godzilla, The Patriot, and The Day After Tomorrow, are huge spectacles with lots of CGI, impressive effects, big casts, and little plot. Emmerich tends to work on such a grand scale that he lets the overall size of the project overwhelm the story. With 10,000 BC, Emmerich has fallen into that trap again.

The main character in what story there is is a fellow named D'Leh (Steven Strait). Old Mother (Mona Hammond), considered by D'Leh's tribe to be a shaman of sorts, predicts that four-legged demons will come among them and that D'Leh will become their savior. As it turns out, she's right. Like I said, the plot is pretty thin. If you care about the plot of this film past the first ten minutes or so, you're a better person than me. I learned that people who roamed the earth some twelve thousand years ago apparently never bathed but somehow managed to have blindingly white teeth and perfectly sculpted physiques.

Anyway, D'Leh falls in love with the gorgeous Evolet (Camilla Belle). The problem is, when the four-legged demons arrive (on horses, hence the four legs), they turn out to be slave traders who wreak havoc in D'Leh's village and take several villagers as prisoners, including the lovely Evolet.

Predictably, D'Leh survives the attack on his village and sets out to rescue Evolet and the other prisoners. Of course, if D'Leh can save his true love and the rest of the prisoners, it could be said he fulfilled his destiny to be his tribe's savior. However, the things that happen to him on his journey to heroism are so ridiculous that the story becomes positively laughable. D'Leh and his group of traveling companions go from their frozen homeland to the North, over snowy mountains, through tropical rain forests, and desert in what seems to be just a few days. During all of this, D'Leh manages to battle giant birds, free a saber-tooth tiger, and gather troops to fight various enemies along the way. Somehow, he makes it all look like just another day at the office.

Article Author: Rebecca Wright

Rebecca is a freelance writer, concentrating in the areas of film, television and music criticism. Her B.A. is in the Humanities with an emphasis in film and writing.She holds an M.A. in American and British literature with an emphasis in dystopian …

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